


Testing the Waters

by p0rk



Category: Solar Opposites
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Cultural Differences, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bathing/Washing, I tag everything I write as AU for safety reasons, Mutual Pining, Other, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:14:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24983671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p0rk/pseuds/p0rk
Summary: Pre-series. Korvo discovers an Earth ritual. Terry discovers Korvo.
Relationships: Korvotron "Korvo"/Terry (Solar Opposites)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	Testing the Waters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BEENZ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BEENZ/gifts).



> Notes, Disclaimers:  
> Please don’t roast me for use of pronouns in this. I hc that the replicants don’t even have names right away, let alone an awareness of binary gender. Sorry if me misgendering Jesse makes this fic inaccessible for you. I rolled with masc pronouns as a neutral default because that’s what I use as a nb person  
> Mostly wrote this as a form of worldbuilding notes/anatomical headcanoning for further writing with bae, but also to satisfy my thirst for Terry in traditional clothes o.o

A few weeks after they’d crashed on the planet, Terry found himself looking for opportunities to spend time alone with his evacuation partner. One of those opportunities arose during one of the first few excursions out of the ship and into the dwelling below. This was the replicants’ first time leaving the ship to enter the alien space, but the moment was pleasant, not trepidatious.

Quaint, geometric Earth architecture made for mysterious spaces. The younger replicant had run ahead of the unit and found a room he liked, with a nook full of sunny windows. He parked himself there, lolling about on the floor until the older one joined him. Soon they had curled up next to each other and fallen asleep without their usual doses of sedatives.

Terry stood in the doorway to the warm room with Korvo beside him and they stared cautiously at the sleeping clones.

“Do you think it’s okay that they’re doing that?” Korvo prompted first, nervous about the change to their established routines.

“I think so.” Terry guessed. “It’s encouraging to see them do it without drugs.” Indeed, the replicants looked pleasant sleeping naturally, and they seemed happy simply from the nearness of each other.

“You know, when they do that, it’s kind of…” Korvo searched for a word.

“Cute?” Terry tried.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Korvo balked at the strong language.

“Well, _I_ think it’s cute.” Terry found himself asserting his opinions more and more these days. Korvo was only one person, and Terry no longer feared his judgement. Initially he’d been more concerned with his unit’s perception of him, but as the days went on, he realized that there was nobody left for Korvo to run off and report him to. Alone on the planet, no authority could tell him what to do anymore.

Still, Korvo tried.

“You’re rolling your hem again.”

Terry’d scooped up the edge of his robe and started rolling it between his fingers without even realizing he was doing it. It was an unsightly habit that had followed him to this planet, and worsened. But there were so many more things to worry about now, and it constantly became harder not to fidget. His companion made sure to scold him for it every single time he caught him doing it, side-eyeing him coldly, symbolically, like they’d never left their homeworld.

But Terry was beginning to think that his partner had plenty of bad habits himself. The major difference between them being that Korvo was smart enough to do things in private, away from anyone who might see him and correct the behavior. Every day Korvo surprised him—getting to know his companion gave Terry a bit of hope. Sometimes he wondered how many people back home had secret, interesting sides to them that they too had learned to properly hide away.

Now, he would never know.

Korvo had gone to take readings on the replicants and make sure they were fine. Once they’d concluded that it might be good for them to get some natural sleep, they’d lingered, too distracted to focus on something else. Terry’s mind was wandering into rough territory.

“Hey, do you want to check out some more of the dwelling?” Terry prompted, trying to keep himself busy.

“That would be a good use of our time.” Korvo spoke slowly, trying to find the most neutral way to enthusiastically agree. Terry could see the way he fought against his smile, and lost—he knew this struggle in a personal way and decided not to say anything about it.

They wandered the nondescript halls together, returning to a room whose purpose they’d yet to figure out. It was a small space with multiple plumbed fixtures. Terry laid his hands on the cool tile walls, still curious as to why the Earth-people didn’t flavor their surfaces.

“Do you want to try one of the fixtures this time?” Terry prompted, studying the polished surface of the smaller basin.

Korvo nodded, then hesitantly turned on the smaller faucet.

“I can’t even begin to imagine. Let’s look at the reference materials.” Korvo suggested while they watched water rush down the drain.

“Wait! Let’s try to guess!” Terry tried, testing his partner’s will.

Korvo looked at him curiously, perhaps thrown off to be disagreed with, but soon that little smile returned to the corners of his mouth.

“Well, we already know that they take water in through their digestive tube. But the other space seems to be designated for their rudimentary food preparation. Maybe it’s some kind of cleaning station.” Korvo circled the rim of the basin with his hands as he pondered aloud.

Terry watched him, enjoying simply being with him while he savored the freedom of hypothesizing. Science, with all of its quantum theories and multidimensional realities, was the one space in which one could think creatively and not be rejected by society.

“I haven’t seen a textile refresher anywhere in this place,” Terry suggested. “Do they launder that stuff in water?”

“That makes sense! But why would they need multiple basins for that?” Korvo’s smile blossomed in full, curiosity overwhelming him. “I can’t stand it! I have to look at the reference materials!”

“Aw, you’re so impatient.” Terry moped a little until Korvo produced his tablet from its pocket in his robes and studied the information they’d pulled from the planetary broadcasts.

After some searching, they found some images and video of similar-looking tiled rooms. In many of them, the larger of the two basins was filled with frothy water and the Earth-people immersed in it in their natural state.

“It almost seems like some sort of ritual.” Korvo concluded after they’d determined that this space was built to interact with massive amounts of water. “Their planet’s surface is mostly covered with it, and their bodies are composed mainly of it. They must have an awareness and respect for this.”

“Weird, do they worship it or something? Water?”

Korvo clutched the tablet and stared at an image of a happy, naked Earth-person splashing around in the foam surrounded by burning candles and decapitated flowers.

“From the looks of it, it’s definitely some type of special rite.” Now Korvo looked at Terry with an unfamiliar gleam in his eye. He paused, then blurted almost frantically. “Can I tell you something really weird? I’ve always kind of wanted to experience part of a different planet’s culture. I feel like that’s the ultimate way of studying it through their eyes.”

“Wow, that is weird.” Terry couldn’t help but say right away, instantly regretting it when Korvo cringed at having admitted such an outlandish thought. “I mean, I don’t think _you’re_ weird. Honestly, I’ve thought about that before, too.”

“Really?” Genuine relief was evident on Korvo’s face. Indeed, to Terry, the weirdest part of all of this was seeing Korvo so emotional.

Terry knew he had it in him—he’d known it since the day they’d left their homeworld and he’d watched Korvo look out the viewscreen again and again, until the planet was no longer visible, and even then he looked forlornly in that direction for days afterward. Terry, being well-trained by the authorities on said planet, knew he had an obligation to remind the other that it was unbecoming to worry in front of the replicants, but he’d held his tongue and instead chose to remember that moment of vulnerability in all of the times that Korvo did not return the favor.

That moment came back to him now while Terry watched the struggle play out on his companion’s face. Korvo wanted something, something selfish and therefore bad. Terry had some idea, of course, so he knelt beside the basin and tried to figure out how the Earth-people filled it with water. He made a show of investigating, knowing that Korvo couldn’t resist watching.

“This switch must be how you fill the basin. You can hear it opening and closing in the drain when you do the thing.” Terry pontificated aloud. Then he turned the marked handle above the spigot until pressurized water gushed out.

He turned to gaze coolly at his companion, not expecting to see him already unfastening the closures on his robe.

“Oh! Wow, okay.” Once again Terry could not help his immediate reaction. He really hadn’t anticipated Korvo to just go for it. Of course when Terry reacted he stopped what he was doing, sheepishly redoing the closures.

“Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Korvo said somberly. “That’s weird.”

“It’s not weird! I was just surprised, that’s all.” When Korvo continued to stare, incredulous, Terry added, “I think you should do it! I’ll do it if you do it!”

Korvo seemed to ponder this another moment, looking at the growing amount of clear water in the basin, then at Terry to gauge his reaction, then back at the basin.

“I’m doing it.”

“Yeah! You’re doing it!” Terry found that he really enjoyed seeing his companion making a selfish decision. It was somehow altogether thrilling and encouraging to see him try something creative for a reason beyond trying to survive.

The things they had been through in the name of survival meant they were close enough now that seeing Korvo undress shouldn’t have felt so inappropriate. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t seen each other in some state of undress before. There was only one living quarters on the small evacuation ship. Two adults and two replicants had no choice but to live in close proximity as the months of their pilgrimage stretched on.

For this reason, Terry wondered why it felt too intimate now to see Korvo take his clothes off. Perhaps it was that edge of personable vulnerability that Korvo had shown him. It occurred to Terry then that his opinion of his companion had changed significantly in a short time.

Before he realized what he was doing, Terry studied what was before him. A yearning settled on him. Seemingly boundless blue skin looked so soft and so nice to touch. The spotted shoulders and curved belly had never been so appealing before now. He realized he was staring in a way that Korvo would’ve criticized if he wasn’t fixated on the basin in front of him.

Boots eased off. Terry watched and let himself wonder what those soft thighs might feel like wrapped around his waist. Just then Korvo was stuffing his robes into Terry’s arms.

“Do you mind holding that?” Korvo asked when he noticed Terry’s hesitation.

“No, but…” Terry wondered why he glanced down as if he thought he might steal a peek at something even more interesting. It was all over then—he officially had a crush on his evacuation partner. Responsibly, he desperately tried to think of any reason not to be there. “I should go, um, be with the replicants.”

“They’re probably still sleeping,” Korvo replied.

“I could probably stand to feed the pupa, then.”

Now Korvo frowned, fretting. He glanced at the basin again.

“We don’t even know what this means to the people who built it. We might be disrespecting a very special shrine.” He pondered. “You must be so uncomfortable right now.”

“No, that’s not the problem, I just…” Terry tried to come up with something he’d accept, at the same time trying not to stare at the soft blue waistline. “I just feel like I could be doing something more productive with the down time.”

“I understand, but I wish you would stay here.” Korvo insisted. “If something goes wrong with this, it would be safer if you were around to help me.”

Terry couldn’t argue with that logic. He’d just have to find a way to get through it, just as he’d survived so many other weaknesses. It wasn’t that he lacked self-discipline, but he’d just noticed how sexy Korvo was and he didn’t want to follow the rules this time.

“For the mission…” he grumbled to himself and looked away.

“Hm?” Korvo was in the process of turning off the water and stepping into the basin.

“I said, at least there’s a chair in here.” Terry focused on investigating the rest of the fixtures instead of investigating his partner’s body.

Korvo moved. “Oh! This water is so dense.”

“Cool!” Terry fiddled with the weird chair to keep from looking. “Whoa! This thing opens!”

“What’s in there?” Korvo peered over him now.

“More water. Huh, weird.”

“Don’t sit on it, then! It’s probably something they place offerings in.”

“It’s _obviously_ a chair.” Terry closed the lid and sat on it. “See?”

“Who knows, then. Just when I thought I understood this planet…” Korvo sighed and then hesitantly sank into the basin, stout legs bending in a way that made Terry wonder why he’d never taken the time to admire the ample physique.

“Whoa…” Korvo murmured a moment later.

“How is it?” Terry asked, finally allowing himself to stare.

“A little cold, and really salty. They’ve flavored it somehow and it tastes really strong.” Korvo said slowly. “But otherwise, it’s amazing.”

“Really?” Now Terry was just as intrigued by the water-based alien faith as much as he was by Korvo’s legs shifting in the water.

“It’s not at all like I expected.” Korvo went on. “I didn’t realize that you can feel how dense the molecules are in large amounts like this. I can actually feel the change in my gravitational pull.”

“No way!”

“Seriously!” Korvo stretched out a relaxed arm, letting it float at the top of the water. “I can feel the surface tension!”

“That's crazy! But how come you don’t have the foamy stuff?” Terry said when he noticed the absence of the cute bubbles from the Earth broadcasts.

“Hm, their bodies must leach proteins when they come into contact with it.” Korvo shifted in the basin, bringing his knees up and sliding further in. His torso floated at the surface. “Are you seeing this? The planet’s gravity is perfect for this. No wonder it’s their religion.”

“ _That’s so cool_!” Terry gritted his teeth trying not to let on to his excitement. But Korvo was smiling brightly too, genuinely enjoying himself without inhibition.

“I just wish they didn’t flavor it so strongly. It’s very distracting.” Korvo sat back up. “I’m getting out. I think we have the idea now, anyway.”

“Earth-people must love salt.” Terry said while he offered a hand up. He couldn’t help but look again. They were long past that point, he decided, if Korvo trusted him enough to smile in front of him.

He was surprised to see Korvo’s body, glistening and translucent all over like freshly grown, new skin. Korvo noticed this too, and he immediately started to panic, snatching up his robe.

“Are you okay?” Terry asked when Korvo’s eyes widened and he frantically struggled to pull on his robe with the wet, regenerating skin.

“No, actually…” Korvo said, his voice cracking as he came to a painful realization. “This _itches_.”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s bad.” A second later Korvo was writhing in his clothes, digging at his skin. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know! Maybe it’s all that salt you were tasting!” Terry was grateful now that he’d stayed and suffered through his lust after all. Panicking as well, he pulled Korvo’s robe back, shamelessly studying the wet skin. Dark blue irritated patches blossomed all over his body.

Korvo wailed. “This hurts more than the worst case of blight I’ve ever had!” Tears welled in his eyes while he fished a tool out of his robe pockets. “Will you get some of that water?”

Terry did as he was asked, taking a sample for him and returning to his side. He wrapped his arms around his trembling partner, dragging him back through the dwelling toward the ship.

The commotion had woken and drawn the attention of the replicants. The little one took one look at Korvo freaking out and immediately started freaking out too, gooblering all over the floor.

“Why did I get in the water? Now the replicants are distressed!” Korvo stopped to berate himself and Terry gave him one last shove.

“Go take care of yourself in the ship, I’ll stay with them. Go!”

The ordeal in the dwelling was over soon enough. Terry only wished that he could be with Korvo in the ship, helping him figure out what was wrong with the Earth water. He knew that keeping the replicants occupied was helping, in a way. The biggest issue now was his own guilt for having spent so much time ogling him.

Time passed. The replicants settled down and became occupied inventing a game with each other. Terry at last stole off to the ship, desperate to follow up with his companion. He found Korvo up there, much calmer now but sulking and smelling like nutrients.

“…hey.” Terry cringed at his own awkward greeting.

“Hm.” Korvo snorted and turned away from him.

“What?” Terry tried. “Are you okay? Talk to me!”

“It’s chlorine.” Korvo said, cryptically, furiously.

“Huh?”

“That seasoning in the water! It’s fucking chlorine! _C_ _hlorine_! They _ingest_ that stuff!” Until that moment, Terry had never actually heard another person swear out loud. Korvo’s rising voice made it that much more shocking. “What kind of planet is this? What kind of people are they?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s like, a preservative? Maybe that’s why they wrinkle when they age. Maybe they brine themselves.” Terry tried to pacify him with some more scientific speculation. Not that it seemed to be working. For someone who was quick to call people out for rolling their robe hems, Korvo was annoyingly inconsolable.

Korvo scoffed at Terry’s pondering. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of, _Terry_.”

Before this, Terry’d had some idea that Korvo felt this way about him, professionally. He’d had that impression for a while, especially when it came to ideas about caring for the replicants, but it was different now to hear it confirmed. They stared at each other, quietly waiting for the other to speak.

Terry decided to take the first bite. At this point, he deserved it.

“Look at how angry you are over this.” He knew it was a low blow, but he really didn’t care.

“I’m not angry!” Korvo said angrily.

Terry folded his arms, lifting his head smugly, derisively, making sure Korvo knew the sting of his disapproval. “ _I’ve_ never let myself become this visibly bothered about anything in my life.”

Korvo grumbled like he wanted to say something more, but he must’ve known that Terry was right. Instead he turned back in his seat, purposefully ignoring him.

“Okay, well, I’ll leave then. No need for you to embarrass yourself further.” Terry added with vitriol.

“Take the pupa with you,” Korvo called to him. “It’s making too much noise for me to work.”

Terry still considered the interaction a success on his end, even if his whole body shook uncontrollably from the tense conversation. Arguing with anyone was a shameful thing to do on Schlorp, and arguing with his evacuation partner was strictly forbidden according to their training.

Even going over regulations in his mind, Terry couldn’t calm down. He felt terrible for picking on Korvo’s anger. He tried to occupy himself with replicants—their game somehow managed to make room for the pupa but not for him. While it was soothing to watch the replicants chase each other up and down the halls, all he could think was that he wished Korvo was there to scold him for letting them touch the pupa.

Korvo didn’t know what it was like to hear that his ideas were stupid, and he couldn’t understand the sting of his words. How could they be in total agreement at all times if they couldn’t understand how the other felt?

Terry pondered this. It was true when he’d told Korvo he’d never been so visibly mad. Terry couldn’t think of a time when he’d sworn and yelled in front of someone else, and it wasn’t as if he’d never embarrassed himself by being too emotional. If Korvo, level-headed, rational, successful, could get to that point, Terry wanted to understand how he got there.

He left the replicants to play and returned to the tiled room. Terry lingered, studying the water fixtures with a new respect. The basin was still full of frigid water—he hesitantly dipped a finger into it, noting the bizarrely flavored salt.

Terry couldn’t imagine why he was shaking again as he dropped his robe unceremoniously on the floor. He stepped out of his boots onto the cold, flavorless tiles.

Then he tested the water. The first thing he noticed was the shock of tasting so much chlorine at once. It also seemed way colder now that he was standing in it. He stepped forward and gasped at the bizarre feeling of moving through the densely packed molecules. It felt like running in a dream. Excited chills wracked his body and he splashed a large amount of water out of the basin when he clambered to be inside it.

“This is fucking amazing…” Terry wheezed aloud softly to himself, sinking in up to his neck, reveling in the floating sensation. It was like being in reduced gravity without being in space. The flavor was definitely unpleasant and overwhelming, though. He sat up and investigated the fixtures at the front of the basin. Different symbols and colors surely indicated something in the Earth language. Perhaps the markings were different flavor options. He turned on the red option and held his hands under the faucets, waiting for the new flavor to come out.

“Whoa!” the temperature shift make him yank his hands away. For a moment he wondered if the mechanism inside was overheating.

Just then, the door to the tiled room swung open. Korvo peered in and his eyes grew wide when he saw what Terry was doing.

“You were right, these people are ridiculous! They color-code _temperature_!” Terry blurted at him.

“You—they—…” Korvo stammered, then gained his composure. “Why are you immersing in that awful water? Didn’t you see what happened to me? Get out of there!”

“No!” Terry replied.

“ _No_?” Korvo repeated it, the earlier rage darkening his face again. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I wanted to know what it was like! We agreed we were both going to try it. Don’t I have that right?”

“You absolutely do not!” Korvo’s eyes gleamed. “You just did something dangerous that you knew would hurt you! You’re jeopardizing our mission!”

“Yeah? Well, you’re jeopardizing the mission by being all angry and saying mean things to your pupa expert.” Terry lurched in the basin, splashing more water and prompting Korvo to leap for safety. “Aw, are you scared of it now? This whole thing was your idea!”

Korvo fumed, searching for an argument and finding none. Defeated, he backed down.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. I accept your apology.” Terry replied, so sickeningly appropriate it made Korvo tip his head forward in shame.

“Buoyancy is cool, right?” Korvo at last offered softly.

“It’s _so_ cool.” Terry sighed. The heady flavor of the chlorine was starting to get to him now. “Anyway. I guess I should get this over with, huh?”

“Yeah, probably.”

Terry gritted his teeth, rising and bracing for it. He moaned when the droplets started evaporating like fire spreading across his skin.

Beside him Korvo moved like hadn’t realized he’d been still, frantically scooping Terry’s robe off of the floor and catching him in it when he staggered out of the basin. The full-body itch came on so suddenly and sharply that it made Terry nauseous and tunneled his vision.

“Ohh, why did I do that?” Terry understood now why Korvo couldn’t stifle his distress at this feeling. He trembled and leaned into Korvo’s embrace while his nerves prickled and regrew. “What’s wrong with this planet?”

“I know, Terry, I know.” Korvo spoke to him steadily as he ushered him through the house. “Look, I know we agreed not to interfere with the natural development of this planet’s culture, but I think this is an exception. As soon as I can figure out how to interact with their communications network, I’m going to give them information about the dangers of their municipal water supply! I’m going to warn them, Terry! You know what else is in their water? Fluoride! What’s fluoride even for, Terry? Nothing good, I’m sure! When I can access their planetary cable system, I’m going to warn them all about fluoride, Terry!”

“That’s so sweet of you…” Terry murmured while Korvo guided him into the ship’s ultraviolet stall. A bottle of cleansing solution was thrust into his grasping hands.

“Do you need any help?” Korvo asked awkwardly while Terry flinched peeling back his robe.

“No, why would I need help?” Terry snapped, too defensive when Korvo stared.

“Right, yeah, why would you need help?” Korvo backpedaled, then changed the subject. “Look, I found some information about their municipal plumbing. I think I can get under the dwelling’s foundation and install a filtration system so we can still use the water.”

Terry clutched his robe around his shoulders. Korvo wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it seemed. He loosened his grip, trying to remember the way things had been before he’d decided to lust after his government-assigned evacuation partner.

“That seems like a lot of work.” He said flatly. “Why not just keep using the ship’s hydrogen collector to make water?”

Korvo paused, shifted.

“Actually, that brings me to something I’ve been meaning to tell you…” He at last turned away when Terry began a cycle in the shower unit. “There’s a lot more damage to our equipment than I initially realized.”

“Oh?” Terry scrubbed at the miserably scaly, discolored patches of regenerating flesh and listened to Korvo’s confession.

“This vessel was only designed for one passenger. Our shared usage puts way too much stress on the equipment. It’s not just the engines and the hydrogen collector, Terry, it’s everything. The food replicator. The textile refresher. The gravity generator. It’s all breaking down. If we keep using it constantly, it’ll break down faster.”

“Oh.”

“We’re going to have to rely on this planet’s resources sooner than we’d hoped, and more heavily than we’d counted on.” Korvo spoke solemnly.

“Well, this scenario _was_ a part of our training. We can handle it.” Terry tried to be encouraging. “We even have that terraforming ray gun.”

“We’ll have a lot of competition from those chlorine-loving _freaks_ that already live here.” Korvo cringed. “We might have to—ugh—live among them.”

“Gross.” Terry agreed. When Korvo didn’t cheer up, a nervousness settled on him that felt like being yelled at. Terry wished he could do something to fix all of their problems at once. He wished he could return to that moment in the tiled room before they’d discovered the water’s flaw. It had been so nice to explore and have fun with Korvo, to see him smile. It made him wonder just how much more of a personality was hidden away, and how much more might come out the longer they were away from their homeworld.

The shower cycle ended. Terry looked back to Korvo, who still lingered outside the stall. And then at once he was thinking about the supple blue waist also hidden away, remembering leering at his evacuation partner’s body as selfishly as if they were lifemates.

“I think I might need your assistance after all.” Terry tried to sound aloof about it, but surely Korvo knew the meaning of his words. “Will you help me put on some nutrient spray?”

“Yes, of course.” Korvo answered casually. He was waiting with a clean robe and a hand to help him out of the stall.

This couldn’t be something that could actually happen, Terry thought, could it? It seemed so unreal—before today, doing _stuff_ with Korvo wasn’t even a question on his mind. The issue of survival had always occupied most of his attention.

But now they’d shared some strangely vulnerable experiences together, separate from the replicants and close to each other. Perhaps feeling the same, Korvo led Terry to his work station and gestured to his chair. Terry sat there wondering how he could stay calm. He lowered his robe, willing himself not to react when Korvo approached him with a spray bottle in hand. He couldn’t help but whimper at the cool mist on his damaged skin.

“How is that?” Korvo prompted.

“Really nice.” Terry wheezed. “Thank you.”

“I should be thanking you.” Korvo studied Terry’s face for a reaction.

“You think so? Why’s that?” Terry knew better than to be the first one to confirm anything. Korvo’s grin drove him crazy! He wanted to see more of it, and to know what kind of hidden mischief drove him to do such impulsive things as immerse in municipal water and flirt with his evacuation partner.

“You’ve given me an opportunity to get to know you better.” Korvo answered carefully.

Terry tried to be as clever. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

“Maybe.” Korvo said, then he reached forward, uncovered hands grappling for Terry’s shoulders. Terry groaned and leaned into Korvo’s touch. The nutrient solution on his skin practically tingled; soon he could taste the enzymes sluffing excitedly from Korvo’s palms.

“I think I got that chlorine water in some other places, too.” Terry said when Korvo pulled away to apply more nutrient solution.

“Yeah? Where?” A devious grin split Korvo’s face for a second, then his smile fell again. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“I know…” Terry sighed, crestfallen.

Korvo paused, then set the bottle aside.

“I don’t mind skipping the conversation if you don’t.”

Terry groaned, overwhelmed by indecision. The traumas of his past made him anxious, like they were going to be caught and punished at any moment. At the same time, he wanted this _so_ bad, and he had a feeling this chance might not come up again.

“Terry…” Korvo sighed at him when he rose from the work chair, letting his robe fall to the floor around his feet.

“I haven’t done this since before the crisis started,” Terry felt like he could wilt from the heat in Korvo’s gaze.

“It’s been even longer for me.” Korvo agreed. He seemed to ponder and doubt his next words. “You’re so tall and pretty.”

Terry couldn’t guess why the compliment made him shiver. Certainly he’d never been praised for his appearance, and coming from Korvo made it that much more special.

Shyly, but encouraged, he offered a hand. Korvo accepted, pressing their palms eagerly together. They moved closer and Terry pushed back Korvo’s sleeves, slipping his hands up the exposed arms, tasting the blossoming enzymes in his partner’s skin. Then he withdrew and teased along the closures of the front of Korvo’s robe. The clothing parted. Besides the healing rashy spots, Korvo’s abdomen glistened with shiny moisture.

“Look at you, you’re so wet already!” Terry couldn’t help his response. Korvo seemed to shrink back at the attention. “I like it! I didn’t think you were that interested in me.”

“I’ve been thinking about it since I saw you in that water basin.” Korvo admitted. “…maybe before then, too.”

“Really?” Now Terry felt like he could shrivel away. He averted his gaze and studied the slick, beading moisture on Korvo’s stomach. He traced his fingertips along the swell of his waist, savoring the pleasant, perfumy flavor of his sex fluids.

His hand trailed lower. He found Korvo’s pore and they met eyes again.

“Are we really going to do this?” Terry asked, too trained to a standard that they’d long since left behind.

Just then, the access hatch in the center of the ship rattled— of course it was too good to be true! Terry scrambled for his robe. The hatch opened just as he finished fastening the last closure. The older of the two replicants emerged, eyes wide with guilt and horror.

“What is it?” Korvo asked his clone.

“Um…” the child tried to remain collected but his expression betrayed his anxiety.

The younger replicant scrambled to enter the ship, crying out. “We lost the pupa! It got outside of the dwelling!”

The intimate scene was instantly over. They all rushed out to deal with the chaos—to their horror they realized the view portals on the exterior of the dwelling could be opened simply by sliding the panels, which meant that there was not a proper seal in which to contain the pupa. Finding the pupa was another thing entirely. Once it had been located hiding in the bushes outside of the dwelling, they rushed it back up to the ship. Korvo shoved miscellaneous pieces of sci fi equipment off of his work station, helping Terry lay out the pupa and then usher the replicants into a decontamination cycle in the ultraviolet stall.

“It genuinely seems unaffected.” Terry offered after a full inspection. It was true—there was no indication that the pupa had interacted with any of the Earth flora. It hadn’t even gotten dirty.

“It hasn’t been long enough to tell!” Korvo insisted, still frantic. “Who knows what it came into contact with out there. And now _we’ve_ all been in that environment, too! The replicants were _touching things_ out there! Everything is contaminated, Terry! Everything!” He held himself, eyes so wide with fear he looked like his little replicant.

“Relax.” Terry said it to himself as much as to Korvo. This whole thing upset him, too, but not as much as seeing Korvo freaking out. The pupa, Terry found more and more these days, was better able to manage itself than their deteriorating equipment. The burdens of their refuge on Earth seemed to be falling mostly to Korvo.

“How can I relax?” Korvo whined. “This planet sucks, Terry! There, okay? I said it! It sucks!”

“It does not. It’s just… different.” Terry absentmindedly fulfilled his obligation to the mission, hardly paying attention while he replicated some supplements for the pupa. Then the machine flickered and stalled out while it delivered the half the amount of food he’d requested. He could see now that the ship, and therefore their last semblance of home, was indeed falling apart all around them.

He half-watched the pupa eat the little cubes out of his hand and stared at Korvo instead. This mission was what brought them together, but also the reason that they had to remain apart. He wished they could return to the simplicity of the time in the tiled room, laughing and smiling together while they tried new things just for the thrill of it. There would be more of those moments, Terry promised himself, if he continued to take the chances that Korvo emboldened him to take.

“Korvotron?” Terry prompted after the pupa had been fed and secured in its holding pen. He had to find some closure for what had happened to them. “Before this, when we were— you were, um, helping me put on nutrient spray…?”

“I’m glad you mentioned that.” Korvo cut him off. “I’m sorry about what happened. That was completely inappropriate.”

“…oh. Right.” Terry’s words were trapped in his vocal organ.

“I promise you, I won’t ever do something like that again.” Korvo kept going, nodding. “I put you in a really awkward position. You’re my evacuation partner and my pupa expert, not my _lifemate_.” He said the last word incredulously, like it was ridiculous to even say it at all.

Korvo spoke like he genuinely believed what he said. Terry knew he had no choice but to agree with him. Pressing the issue would jeopardize the mission. Somehow, unquestioning compliance was more painful now than ever before.

“Yeah, um, I’m sorry too. That thing with the chlorine got me all messed up. I would never… _never_ want to actually do that with you.”

Disappointment briefly flashed across Korvo’s face but was quickly stifled. Terry wondered if his own cold expression after that was the same.

“I guess I should think about designing that filtration system, then.” Korvo was the first to speak again.

“Right. Sounds good.” Terry agreed, forcing himself to somehow be okay with all of this. He couldn’t even muster a pleased expression.

“I’ll go check on the replicants first.” Korvo said then, turning to go to the next room.

“Cool.” Terry shrugged, dying inside. He wasn’t ready to let it go so easily. He turned in his seat to look at his companion. “Hey, Korvotron?”

“Terry?”

“Uh… if things ever, like, really fall apart, like if the pupa dies or something and our mission fails, do you think it would matter if we, sort of like… did our own thing…?” His steam quickly dissipated and he all but mumbled the end.

Korvo thought about it. He seemed to smile for a moment but it soon hardened.

“I’m not going to worry about that because I trust that you won’t let that happen.” He said it more praisingly than judgmentally.

“Thanks.” Terry sighed, dismissing the thought as much as he could.

“Of course.” Korvo said. Then, he was gone.

Beside him in its pen, the pupa grunted and held out its little hand-claws for more supplement cubes. Terry glared at it, thinking about Korvo’s soft, dewy belly, thinking about how he’d never get a chance to squeeze it again. Thinking about how many more opportunities this little thing would steal away from him as long as it was alive.

It grunted again, irritated with hunger.

“Fuck you!” Terry scolded it. Saying it aloud the first time satisfied an urge he wasn’t aware he’d had. He stood, towered over it until it shrank away from him. “Fuck you, you stupid pupa! You hear me? I hate you!”


End file.
